[Closed] what practical everyday motorbike?

Sv.

Light, agile for traffic. Not too valuable for the thieves. Not too expensive to keep going either. Good characterful motor, pretty reliable. Can get faired for winter/longer commute, or unfaired for shorter, slight difference in gearing makes faired faster, slightly slower accellerating. Its 650cc and not expensive to insure.

Curvy ones are older but prettier, carbed motors. Pointy ones are fi. They sold loads of them, and always got well reviewed by the press, apart from the budget elements of suspension which whilst "adequate" can be improved, to a point.

www.sv650.org is your friend.

Carrying a bike on a bike is tricky - only seen it done on big bikes.

A 650 will not be significantly less than a car to run if at all. I used to go thru best part of £400 a year in tyres alone. Have you checked typical insurance costs? A trailer might be possible but I don't know about the length restrictions. Luggage to carry your sparky tools will be expensive as well.

IIRC you are young - big bikes only after 2 years experience or over 21 and the training is expensive as is the kit

anything is possibkle if you really want to.

[img] [/img]

ive done the training and the insurance is about £300-£350 for most type of bikes i would have a car but im not spending £5k on insurance so im going to stick with bikes for a bit there's a forum somewhere on the web with a load of bike racks modified to fit mororbikes

I thought you were young? You got an unrestricted license?

CB 500 for a practical bike

advrider.com features cycles mounted on motorbikes occasionally. A search should turn them up. I can't see you getting far without police attention.

i am and i was going to get a bigger bike and get it restricted to what ever the limits are until i can de restrict it hopefully by then car insurance might be more of a sensible price

i am and i was going to get a bigger bike and get it restricted to what ever the limits are until i can de restrict it hopefully by then car insurance might be more of a sensible price

pah sod the police if its not on the back of a bike it will be on the back of an uninsured untaxed car

because the bikes that are 33bhp to start with are small superbike type things im wanting something like a honda xl650

Very few decent restricted bikes. I think you underestimate the cost and difficulties of doing this but good luck. You got a full restricted license then?

CB500 would be my call

yes i have a full restricted license getting one restricted is no problem my, uncle owns a bike shop so its no big deal to get it done he's already done it with my current bike, as long i listen an learn kinda thing 😉

SV is easilly restricted.

😀

I'd say a CB500 too, but I'm biased cos that's what I bought.

once its past its mot test the restrictor will be coming off anyway so i can go tear arseing round narrow country lanes nearly killing myself

Strike off the nearly 😉

with a void licence and insurance if you do - you will get pulled

why does your uncle recommend? let me know how you get on, i;m still tempted to get a (small) bike for commuting

If you want something that you can put a bike on, I'd go for something big like an Africa Twin. Wouldn't look out of place with some good size panniers to take all your kit. Although the SV is nice bike, I can't really picture it with a bicycle strapped to it.

One of Santa Cruz's designers has a pointy SV650 with a mountain bike carrier, he mentioned it in an interview a while back. No pics though. I looked into it for a while, but once you add in having to carry all your kit, and then stash the motorbike kit while you're riding, then getting back into the motorbike kit while covered in mud after... No thanks. I did a couple of demo days by motorbike and that wasn't a lot of fun even without having to transport the hardware around. So, got a car as well.

But if you want a sensible first bike, easily restricted, and you don't decide to carry bikes on it then the SV should be your first point of call and will likely be your last, it's pretty ideal. You can get the older model cheaply if you don't mind a scabby one- and, well, it's a Suzuki, scabby ones aren't hard to find. Or you can spend more and get a nice one- they're cheap new so a couple of grand gets something tidy.

They restrict well and easily- they still ride nicely with the restrictors in unlike Hornets and the like where you get left with a totally emasculated motor. Lots of already restricted ones already out there too. And they're almost impossible to kill, the engine is tough as long as you keep it oiled (and don't wheelie too much), the servicing's simple, and they crash fantastically well because the frame and engine is so narrow. Not especially economic though- they can be, if you nurse them around everywhere but in practice you'll end up turning the loud handle and the economy isn't great when you work the engine.

Mind you a cheap old one will handle like it's on drugs but that's easily enough fixed. Jujuuk is spot on, SV650.org is an amazing forum, best owners' group I've ever come across, I owe that place so much.

Honda's Deuville is the ultimate practical bike though, they're fantastic tools but expensive for that reason. Not an awful lot of fun to ride though.

Anyway, thus ends Northwind's essay about SVs.

Have you thought about the Fazer, quite quick, relatively comfortable if you're no too tall and an easy bike to handle.
For bike carrying duties, as said above, Sazuki Africa or the like. BMW F650, and you can tell everyone you've got a Beemer, if that's your thing...
This is a bit bigger, but I'd definitely be looking at one of these if I was in the market, fully panniered up and a bike rack it'd be perfect for lugging tha camera equipment and a bike. 😆
[img] [/img]
My rider has one and apart from being on its second engine, it's wicked 😈

Just get an old 600 Bandit, & get it restricted. I ran a GSX-F teapot for a few years, was totally reliable being water cooled etc. Binning an unfaired Bandit wont be too expensive, & you'll get your cash back if you sell. A decent rear box, or pannier should be good for carting a bit of kit.

i am and i was going to get a bigger bike and get it restricted to what ever the limits are until i can de restrict it

Having ridden a restriced bike for many 1000s of miles, I wouldn't bother if I were you. It ruins the power delivery.

That said, I got done for speeding in town when I was restriced and they never bothered to ask about the restrictor. So, yeah, I pulled the restrictor off (2 plates in the inlet manifold) straight after that. I didn't go much faster, if at all, but the bike was easier to ride and used less fuel becasue I didn't have to thrash it everywhere. That was only a CB500S with about 58bhp and the official Honda restriction kit, so I can't imagine how bad a bigger bike would feel

Suzuki DR or similar

Bandit's a strange choice these days, they're not that cheap and they don't bring much to the table- same ropey suspension as an SV bolted to a heavier overall package with a worse thirst. Restricted they're not nice at all, too much lard to pull and too peaky a power curve.

Oh re restriction- Police won't generally be interested for small offences, but are more likely to pay attention if you're involved in something more serious. However, insurers is a different story- if they get the chance, they will usually be checking to see if your post-accident bike was restricted and if it isn't, you'll be walking funny for a while.

XT600 ? Might sell mine, it's super-moto'ed ....

an old kawasaki kle 500

gonna be cheap to run. use less tyres than a fazer or bandit, a few around but not comon as muck

or get a drz 400 with road wheels

taka, the most natural choice for me would be a Honda Bros 400. Easy to ride, decent comfort, cheap, 33kW without a restrictor. Or you can buy my Bros 650 and limit it for 24 months. Come to SSWC in Eire, you'll be able to ride back 🙂 (shameless plug, sorry).

cg125

or cub90

SV650, nope it's a suzuki, I had one it rusted and corroded really quickly.
BMW F650GS, lovely almost ideal till it breaks and then it's [i]pricy[/i]. I had one for 9 years, the ABS cost me 850notes to fix =:-O

I suggest you get a Honda. Something boring and cheap. Any 4 cylinder in-line motor with a fairing and heated grips. Dull and worthy but economical and reliable

a 1998 kawasaki zx9r C1 is a good option 🙂

11k miles with FSH and available 😉

I have a book called Bikes of Burden. C90 type thing is all you need really...

[img] [/img]

Well what poddy says, not point in restricting a bike. You'd better buy one that is under 34 bhp from sratch.
Having say that if you want something convenient forget about anything with 4 cylinders (you might as well get a car).
I would look at stuff like CB500, ER5, F650 (old ugly but fracking undestructible) DR650 and the likes...

I have a book called Bikes of Burden. C90 type thing is all you need really...

Suzi had the slickest clutch when I rode her.

5thElefant - that's great! I shall enjoy reading that.

Cheers

the C90 is the single most terrifying two-wheeled vehicle I have ever ridden.

Actually, no, that 1930's delivery bike with the rod brakes and mahogany brake blocks was the most terrifying...

I raced a C90 for Dirt Bike Rider. It was as much fun as motocross with marginally less chance of serious injury (although one of our team did leave in an ambulance). And I did snap one of our bikes in half...

In the background DBR's test rider (who's over a foot shorter and half the weight of me):

[img] [/img]

Broken bike:

[img] [/img]

i wont be getting a c90 my dad had one and he thought is was cool back in the day but i do have some cred 😆

I've got an F650, ****in thing destroyed itself last night!

Sorry Taka but the C90 is one of the coolest bikes ever made.

Every biker should ride one at some point in their life. We own one and it has pride of place in our workshop.

Disagree with the comments about not restricting a bike, some restrict very badly (Honda Hornet is diabolical restricted frinstance) but a restricted SV or kawasaki ER6 or similiar works well, still better engine characteristics than most small engined bikes as you still get the low down torque, just not the top end power.

Frinstance, someone mentioned the Bros 400 but the SV's lighter, and in restricted form still makes more torque (and delivers it lower down to boot) so gives you really nice usability.

"bassspine - Member

SV650, nope it's a suzuki, I had one it rusted and corroded really quickly."

That's what makes them such great second hand buys A wee bit of cosmetic roughness takes loads off the price without actually making any difference to the ride. People'll pay more for a tidy looking bike that's mechanically shagged than they will for a mechanically perfect bike that looks a bit second hand. The cosmetic build quality is rotten though, no denying it, mine is 60000 miles old and the engine cases look like it's been stored in the sea.